Remember when everyone— including your mom, best friend, guitar teacher, bus driver, mailman and butcher— was devouring “The Da Vinci Code“? It’s hard to remember that a book that corny and poorly written somehow became a phenomenon (oh wait, “Fifty Shades Of Grey“…) but not only was a pop culture moment, it spawned the hit movie that made a tidy $758 million worldwide. But by time the followup “Angels & Demons” arrived three years later, interest had cooled, and it only collected $458 million. Still, $458 million is $458 million and it looks like Sony wants to scrape up whatever Dan Brown dollars are left.

Director Ron Howard and star Tom Hanks are reteaming for “Inferno” (skipping over “The Lost Symbol,” which had Mark Romanekattached to direct, for reasons yet to be declared), yet another Robert Langdon adventure. What happens to our weirdly haired brainiac this time? Well, he’s going to dive into the (made up, conspiracy theory) mystery behind Dante‘s “Inferno”! Nothing screams blockbuster like a plot based around an ancient book no one in the general public has read. Woo! Here’s the Amazon synopsis:

In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology, Robert Langdon, is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces . . . Dante’s Inferno.

Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust . . . before the world is irrevocably altered.

Riddles!? You don’t say. We’re still kinda seriously bummed Romanek’s take on this material is getting passed over (you might recall he’s been trying to work with Hanks forever, with their “A Cold Case” stuck in development hell) but we guess that’s just the way things go sometimes. This project is another on a busy slate for Howard who has “Rush” dropping this fall after which he starts shooting the sea bound survival tale, “In The Heart Of The Sea.” And after that, he’ll be cracking right to work on this as it’s expected in theatres on December 18, 2015. [Deadline]